Table 2.

Advantage of discovering and using new biomarkers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Aim	Function	Advantage
Prevention	Susceptibility	Identification of individuals likely to develop RA
	Protection and exposure of risk	Establishment of mechanisms that can favor maintenance of health status and reduce risk factors
	Risk assessment	Determination of causes, characteristics, traits, possible risks and probable occurrence of unwanted adverse events, as well as their consequences on the onset and development of the disease
Diagnosis	Stratification	Classification of RA patients in different groups to make decisions
	Early diagnosis	Identification of the early state of the disease and contain more successfully its progressive progress
	Better diagnosis	Establishment of the disease with certainty
	Prognostic value	Forecast of disease development and support the therapeutic decision making and clinical benefit from a therapeutic intervention
	Predictive value	Measure patient’s responsiveness to treatment
	Relevance and need	Establishment of time and appropriate measures to address the disease
Treatment	Proper selection	Choice of appropriate drug for specific RA patient
	Response evaluation	Determination of the efficacy of anti-rheumatic therapy
	Disease activity monitoring	Identification of the existence of problematic situations or good evolution of disease and its possible interventions
	Safety	Prevention and/or reduction of side effects that the response to treatment can produce
Value chain	Therapeutic alternatives	Evaluation of recent therapies different from traditional ones
	Development of new drugs	Identification of new therapeutic targets
	Clinical trials optimization	Reduction of costs and time in development of new drugs
	Test development	Improvement of the opportunity and the therapeutic window of medical care